Lights in the Darkness

Return from the Widdigmans Lair

Session 17

“We made it out alive and packed with treasure, but Mauger is dead and many of our mercenaries were killed by a zombie attack. But, one after the other:

After we returned with Strongarm’s head to the big hall, Mauger told us that we owed him a full share of the treasure. This led to some discussion because Zephyros apparently promised that to him before we were nearly overrun in the mirror room. The discussion was heated but led to a compromise everybody could accept.

Then, they talked with Agapetos. The horse-headed beastman seems to hail from an enslaved village of his kind that is still under control of the green, four-armed giants. It certainly would be the Maker’s work to lead them out of bondage, but the giants are quite powerful as we have seen…

Osric and Oswald went into the water below the destroyed bridge to find more treasure, but they found a dangerous water snake first! It bit Osric and Mauger but Osric survived. Maybe the Maker is still holding His hand over him. I at least hope that is the reason… I never heard Osric recite the Makers words with such a lack of passion and concentration. Maybe it was the bite of the snake or this swan-winged devil. Who knows?

After that, we managed to open the big chest, nearly killing Oswald with acid. It looked worse than it actually was at the end, though, and the soap washed away most of the corrosive agent on his face. Inside, there were quite a few expensive things, some lead toy soldiers, and raunchy paintings on wood. The former lifted a mystery from the blue pool, but even after solving the child’s riddle, we were confronted by a vision of a weird aparatus: a long tube with a round middle part and a flat end. We finally gave up trying to understand it and decided to call it a day and go out of this Hellhole once and for all.

The remaining widdigmen were indeed waiting outside, but between the trophy of Strongarm’s head and the hailing of two new widdigman kings, Strongsmell and Splitclaw, we managed to slip away without further problems, taking the boats the captured caravan guards told us about."

Osric talks to Agapetos through a translator:
“I know that your people are suffering, and that you need all the help you can get. But we are only a few! We cannot wade into a village of these giants and slay them all to free your kin. We need more information and more men! We will return to Hewflore now but it may be that you cannot join us. We may have to meet again after we hire more mercenaries. Even then, we need a plan and good information on where we can strike best to free some more of you.”

In Hewflore, Urien continues his journal entries:
“I found a teacher — Ralf d’Arcy — who was willing to speak to Osric and examine the mace. When I brought Osric to him, he looked a bit odd, but he told me he wouldn’t ask any further questions. It might require some trickery to do this, but I am convinced I can find a way…

The curse is undone! The teacher was swift and Osric rather befuddled as he threw the mace from him like an iron pot too long on the fire. With great care, Brother Ralf took the mace to the Maker’s House of Hewflore where the canons there destroyed it on the altar. The power of the foul demoness Turana broken, they assured me that the metal would be used for alms.